The poor in India are, too often, reduced to statistics. In the dry language of development reports and economic projections, the true misery of the hundreds of millions who live below the poverty line gets overlooked. In this thoroughly researched study of the poorest of the poor, we get to see how they manage, what sustains them, and the efforts, often ludicrous, to do something for them. The people who figure in this book typify the lives and aspirations of a large section of Indian society, and their stories present us with the true face of development.

Acclaimed across the world, assigned in over 100 universities and colleges, and included in part in The Century's Greatest Reportage, alongside the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Studs Terkel, Everybody Loves a Good Drought is the established classic on rural poverty in India. Two decades after publication, it remains unsurpassed in the scope and depth of reportage, providing an intimate view of the daily struggles of the poor and the efforts, often ludicrous, made to uplift them.